GOSPEL - MT 22:1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying,
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests,
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
From “Door to Heaven” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (DH-32:9, 11)
9) Speak about My presence in the Eucharist... Man knows he is blind when trying to solve so many problems. He knows by experience his ability to fall and collapse, his inability to rise. He knows that if his weak human strength opposes as many enemies as surround him, he will be conquered in mortal combat. But what man does not want to know is that help can be found in God. He does not want to accept that I am in the Tabernacle and that I long to dwell in the heart of all My children. That is why they avoid Communion. If he acted rationally, he would hasten to find Me, to join Me in the way, the truth, the life that I am Myself. Unfortunately, he invents a multitude of elaborate excuses to distance himself from the altar, but in the end he repeats the
same injustices of those guests invited to the great dinner that I speak of in My Gospel.
11) Tell them that I am calling them: Come, eat, because My Body does not live in those who do not eat... If only men would understand who it is that is inviting and leading them. If only they could comprehend the splendid palace to which they have been invited and taste the tenderness of the meal offered to them, they would find out it embraces all the delights and is sweeter than honey, whiter than milk, more generous than wine and more delicate than wheat bread. And with all this, men continue to cry out that they died of hunger, when they have bread from Heaven within their grasp.
Each week we will be presenting a portion of the following Sunday’s readings, and linking it to relevant parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and messages from the Testimony of Catalina. Pay special attention to the italicized sections. This Sunday as always, Jesus is inviting us to the feast, will we accept? We hope this is inspiring and educational. Any comments you have are certainly welcome.
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